Afghan women: from erasure to femicide

It has now been three years since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan by force. Humanitarian, political, social and economic disasters affect the daily lives of Afghans, but women and girls are particularly and disproportionately affected. The systematic and widespread violations of the fundamental rights of women and girls in Afghanistan constitute persecution based on sex, or even, according to the UN Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan, "an institutionalised framework of gender apartheid." The Taliban regime has just enacted a law imposing new restrictions on them: women already excluded from public life, banned from education and many forms of employment, unable to travel without a male chaperone, or visit public places such as parks, and for whom access to healthcare is severely compromised (including restrictions on women's reproductive rights, including a ban on contraceptives), will now have to cover their faces and will no longer be allowed to make their voices heard in public, sing or read aloud. This ongoing repression and violence by the Taliban has led to a mental health crisis among Afghan women and girls, with rising rates of depression, anxiety, trauma and suicide.

A brutal regression with global repercussions

This regression is not limited to Afghanistan. It reflects a heightened trend of decline in women's rights in several countries, including in Europe. In Iran, two years after the arrest and killing of Mahsa Amini, women continue to fight heroically for their rights against the Islamist, repressive and dictatorial regime of the Mullahs, which restricts women's freedoms, imposes the veil as a symbol of men's absolute control over their bodies, sexuality and lives, restricts their participation in public life, and limits their choice of residence, associations and leisure activities. An Iranian woman may not practise a profession, nor travel abroad, without her husband's consent. Beyond the weight of religion, the weight of patriarchy continues to diminish women's place in society, a patriarchy that is a source of physical and psychological violence against women. In Poland, despite a recent easing, the tightening of abortion law made access to voluntary termination of pregnancy nearly impossible, causing the deaths of 6 women since 2020!

An urgent call for international action

These examples, like rape used as a weapon of war in Congo, Sudan, Nigeria, Ukraine or on 7 October in Israel, illustrate the need to continue the fight for women's rights so that equality between women and men becomes a reality everywhere in the world. Faced with this alarming situation in Afghanistan, Iran and elsewhere in the world, the women of the Mouvement Réformateur call on the international community to act. Equality between women and men cannot be relegated to the background. It must remain at the heart of the diplomatic, political, economic and social agenda, to ensure that all women, wherever they are, can enjoy their inalienable rights. This requires a strong voice condemning humanitarian and political abuses, feminist diplomacy, international sanctions and a dignified welcome for women fleeing oppression, offering them a glimmer of hope in the darkness of repression.  

Viviane Teitelbaum

Senator

 

Loubna Azghoud

 Member of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Parliament

 

Florence Reuter

 Federal MP